The Big Dreamer

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

No one is perfect, and so we all go through life making mistakes. However, one of the best things you can do with the mistakes you’ve made is to learn from them. In fact, this is one of the best ways to improve in almost any area, and ensure that you don’t make the same errors in the future.

Of course, the only way in which you will be able to learn from your mistakes is if you are first able to admit to them. Often, it can be easy to simply put the blame on someone else, but this rarely means that you’ll be thinking about where you went wrong. It’s far better to own up, apologise if you need to, and then work out how you might be able to make improvements in future.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions when you know you’ve made a mistake. Often, we are happy to ask questions about practical tasks, such as directions to a particular location or what’s included in our Aviva Life Insurance plans, but when it comes to asking on how we might improve upon our actions in future, we might feel more reluctant. Some people feel that asking questions may bring further attention to their original mistake. However, this really is one of the best ways to make sure that you are able to learn from exactly where you went wrong.

It is also important to stay focused on achieving your overall goals. Don’t be put off by your previous mistakes – instead, make sure that you are the first to volunteer for similar tasks or roles in the future. This will give you the opportunity to prove that you have learnt from where you went wrong, and are able to reach your goals having learnt from your mistakes.

Cheers~

Mark

Image Courtesy of Wavy1

I can’t remember where I saw it. But the following comment was what I came across while reading some blogs or forum online:

Positive thinking doesn’t pay the mortgage.
Positive thinking doesn’t pay the bills and put food on your table.

Well… obviously the person who left the comment doesn’t believe in Positive Thinking (at least, that’s what it seems to me).

I think people who don’t believe in Positive Thinking have totally missed the point. But who can blame them? They have probably been misled into thinking that it is enough to turn their lives around simply by having positive thoughts (hint: The Secret).

I agree that the message being conveyed in the movie ‘The Secret’ can be very misleading. The general message the movie is trying to tell us is: If you want to attract what you want in life, you have to constantly think about what it is that you want, and you will start seeing them appearing in your life. So, it seems all you need to do to dramatically change your life is simply to think about it!

Although it sounds incredible, one needs to understand that your success in life does indeed begin with the way you think. Let me explain why.

Continue reading →

Image Courtesy of Tony the Misfit

Influence is at the core of everything.

Employers influence employees to be productive. Parents influence children to do their chores. Children influence parents to get what they want!

The power of influence can be learnt and developed into an art form. Just promise to use it only for good!

Here are 25 ways to influence others:

1. Know What You Want

What is your purpose in influencing others? In order to persuade others, you must have the end in mind.

2. Hypnotise

Not literally, but through your charm and speech patterns. Remember that people want to please someone they admire and respect.

3. Pay Them

Money is always a motivator, isn’t it? It may be the easiest and quickest way to get what you want, but it sure can get expensive.

4. Reason With Them

Explain your position. Focus on the answer to their burning question: “What’s in it for me?”

5. Compromise

Getting someone to do what you want often involves communication and negotiation. This is where you can take the “I’ll scratch your back and you scratch mine” approach.

Continue reading →

Image Courtesy of SashaW

More often than not, how we feel about ourselves is based largely on how we think other people – especially those important to us – feel about us.

Therefore, other people’s opinions of us have a direct and major influence on our level of self-acceptance and self-esteem. The better they think of us, the better we can accept ourselves and the more confident we feel about ourselves, and vice versa.

In the past, I had been very concerned about what other people think of me too. However, over the years, I found that at times, this characteristic was not doing my self-esteem any good because there are just some people who have a propensity to criticise but never willing to give encouragement.

People will never stop making and passing judgments on you because that is human nature. It is a habit of all human beings. Some of these could be good, some could be bad. Nevertheless, we tend to pay more attention to the bad than the good.

But a few years ago, I’ve learnt how to not allow these judgments to affect me because they could be extremely detrimental.

I looked myself in the mirror one day and told myself that, “People will always judge you based on what you have done or achieved.

But instead of judging yourself based on other people’s judgments of you, you have to learn to judge yourself based on what you believe you’re capable of achieving.

You don’t need anyone to tell you how your future is going to turn out. You will decide how your own future is going to turn out.”

Continue reading →

Image Courtesy of Vaguely Artistic

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Amber Hensley of OnlineUniversities.com.

When our professional, academic and personal goals suffer setbacks, it’s natural to want to give up, at least temporarily. Frustration, anger, hurt, and even depression may take over for a little while, but if you want to achieve any kind of success in life, you’ve got to learn how to not only accept your setbacks but also learn from them.

Here are 10 tips for reworking your goals after failing the first time.

1. Understand how your goals are affected. Have you experienced a minor setback that won’t even matter in a week, or do you feel like everything you’ve worked for has been destroyed? Decide how serious your setback is to your long-term goal, and start rebuilding from there.

2. Accept blame if need be. Be honest with yourself, and if you’re able to recognise any mistakes that you made along the way, it will be that much easier to do better next time.

3. Compromise. Compromise doesn’t just help you get along with people in the short-term: the challenge to compromise also promises a new way of looking at something, which can help you become more innovative in the long-term.

Continue reading →